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Episodes
Sermons and content from Union Church in Prescott, Arizona.
Episodes
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
Listen along as we continue our time working through the story of Scripture.
Notes//Quotes:
Colossians 1:15-23 - Jon Reading
Supremacy, Sufficiency, Solidarity
“In the past, it was common to refer to the problem as the “Colossian heresy.” That term is misleading because it anachronistically assumes that there were widely accepted criteria for judging orthodoxy in the time of Paul. It also assumes that the opponents are Christians who are corrupting the Colossians’ faith. Arnold uses the word “syncretism” to avoid prejudging the teaching as “bad, heretical, or unorthodox.” Paul, however, calls it a “philosophy” (2:8). Putting this term in quotation marks prevents us from understanding it as a logical system of truths and principles and allows it to apply to a religious way of life. What this “philosophy” was and how it threatened the congregation has occupied scholars’ attention for some time and no consensus has been reached. To identify the “philosophy” we have only meager snippets in a short but clearly polemical section (2:8, 16–23). The problem is compounded because this section is the most unclear passage in the letter. Many interpreters look outside the text for some evidence in Paul’s environment that will help stitch all the allusions in the letter together into a coherent pattern. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack, however. What is worse, the diverging conjectures reveal that scholars are looking in quite different haystacks for this magic needle. When one examines all the conflicting proposals by scholars who muster impressive primary evidence to buttress their arguments, the conflicting accounts resemble the story of blind men trying to describe an elephant when they are touching different parts of the animal. This does not mean that if we piece together all the different proposals, we will have our answer. The evidence is confusing and enigmatic.”
- David E. Garland
1. It is a “hollow and deceptive philosophy” (2:8).
2. It is dependent on “human tradition” (vv. 8, 22).
3. It is dependent on “elemental spiritual forces of this world” (v. 8).
4. It is not dependent on “Christ” (v. 8).
5. It involves dietary restrictions (v.16).
6. It involves the practice of Jewish holidays (v.16).
7. It involves ascetic disciplines (vv. 18, 23).
8. It involves angelic beings (v. 18).
9. It involves visions (v. 18).
10. It results in pride (v. 18).
11. It results in loosing connection with Christ (v.19).
12. It involves a number of rules as a means of spiritual growth (vv. 20-23).
- Douglas Moo
We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
- Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language
Gif Laughing Baby
3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
- Colossians 3:3-17 ESV
“When Christians do not live with a deep sense of gratitude for what God has done for them in Christ, they will become engulfed in anxieties and will be tempted to look for security in something other than Christ. Paul repeatedly urged the Colossians to be thankful for the victory already won for them by Christ’s cross and resurrection. Salvation can be found only in Christ, and Christians do not need something else or something more. The cross brings redemption, the forgiveness of sin, and triumph over all the powers that would oppress human life. Every believer is made complete when placed under the complete claim of Christ, and all the spiritual ills of our world find their only cure in him."
- David E. Garland
Elaine dancing gif: https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7TKstUpSOgEXNzKE/giphy.gif
Sunday Oct 02, 2022
Sunday Oct 02, 2022
Listen along as we learn about the place of Philippi, the prayer of Paul and how we are to press God's providence into our lives.
Notes/Quotes:
Philippians 1:3-11 - Larry and Jorgen
Philippians 1:3-11
(memes) - 1,2,3
Acts 16:11-12
Acts 16:13-15
Acts 16:16-24
“God’s total care and governance of His creation for His glory and their good” - Jerry Bridges
Philippians 2:1-11
“We’re daily being indoctrinated by the world to have the opposite mindset. You want your life to speak? Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.” - Beth Moore
Philippians 4:4-7 -
“To be cynical is to be distant. While offering a false intimacy of being "in the know," cynicism actually destroys intimacy. It leads to a creeping bitterness that can deaden and even destroy the spirit...A praying life is just the opposite. It engages evil. The psalmist was in God's face, hoping, dreaming, asking. Prayer is feisty. Cynicism, on the other hand, merely critiques. It is passive, cocooning itself from the passions of the great cosmic battle we are engaged in. It is without hope.” Paul Miller
Sunday Sep 25, 2022
Sunday Sep 25, 2022
Listen along as Mike Gaston teaches through Ephesians.
Ephesians 3:8-13
Slide 1
Fun Facts from Efesians
Geography
Grammar
Greetings
Slide 2
Map image (attached)
Slide 3
Fun Facts from Efesians
Geography
Grammar: Indicative/Imperative
Greetings: basically, none
Slide 4
“Ephesians, unlike Colossians, was not devised to combat error and expose the inconsistencies of false teaching. Paul’s aim was more detached and therefore more exalted. He rose above the smoke of battle and captured a vision of God’s sovereign plan that transcends the bitterness of controversy and the necessity for the church militant here on earth to fight for its very existence.
Paul stood aside from the conflict and contemplated God’s overall design for his church and for his world. As he did so, he came to realize as never before the breathtaking scope of God’s strategy in Christ for the fullness of time.”
A. Skevington Wood
Slide 5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
Ephesians 1:3-4
Slide 6
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Slide 7
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
Ephesians 2:11-16
Slide 8
When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Ephesians 3:4-6
Slide 9
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 3:8-10
Slide 10
The cosmic mission of the church is to display before the hosts of heaven the manifold wisdom of God. "You are the light of the world." But not merely that. You are the light of the cosmos, with the spectacular mission of revealing the wisdom of God to supernatural beings…
How are we, the church, to make this wisdom known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places? … What the church is to do is demonstrate the wisdom in God's mysterious plan. The wisdom of a plan is seen by the fact that it works. We show the wisdom of God by showing in the church that it is working. The death of Christ was not in vain: it has reconciled us to God, it has broken down the wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile and other races, it has produced one new body, and it has given us the hope of his immeasurable kindness forever. We show the wisdom of God to the cosmic powers by living this way, by being the church Christ died to create.
John Piper
Slide 11
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:1-3
Slide 12
(The Ephesians are called) to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24
Slide 13
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit…
Ephesians 5:17-18
Slide 14
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord…
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…
Ephesians 5:22,24
Slide 15
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Ephesians 6:13
Sunday Sep 18, 2022
Sunday Sep 18, 2022
Galatians 5:16-26
“I believe we are called to the difficult and even painful task of “double listening.” That is, we are to listen carefully (although of course with differing degrees of respect) both to the ancient Word and to the modern world, in order to relate the one to the other with a combination of fidelity and sensitivity. Only if we can develop our capacity for double listening, will we avoid the opposite pitfalls of unfaithfulness and irrelevance, and be able to speak God’s Word to God’s world with effectiveness today.” John Stott
Acts 15:6-11
- Acts 15:19-21 -
Gospel math
Jesus + Nothing = Everything
Jesus + Anything = Nothing
“Paul was against the legalism of the Judaizers because it usurped the work of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and forced all converts to become Jews. It was not what was done that rankled Paul; it was why these things were done that produced his quick reaction. The system is one of “addition by subtraction”— adding to the gospel by subtracting the sufficiency of Christ and the Spirit.” - Scot Mcknight
Galatians 1:6-9
Gal 2:20-21
Gal 3:5-9
Galatians 3:23-29
Galatians 5:1
“Freedom of choice without limits has become almost sacred. Philosophers call this “negative freedom”—freedom from constraints—which they contrast with “positive freedom,” the freedom to pursue some good aim. Absolute negative freedom becomes the chief moral good, so that “the only sin which is not tolerated is intolerance.” Tim Keller
The very theme of the kingdom of God, when preached properly and fully, directly challenges yet fulfills the late-modern desire for freedom. We can see in daily life how the disciplines—freedom “losses” like practice and dieting—lead to other kinds of freedom gains. We also see how when employees submit to the leadership of a great CEO or team members to that of a great coach, everyone on the team realizes his potential and everyone thrives. Submitting to the right rules and the right leader can bring all sorts of great freedoms. If we see this to be the case, then how much more liberating will it be to submit to the true king of our souls? All of this supports the famous claim by Jesus that knowing him sets you “free” (John 8:31–36), meaning The ultimate bondage is rebellion against the God who has made us. The despotic master is not Caesar, but shameful self-centeredness, an evil and enslaving devotion to created things at the expense of worship of the Creator.” - Tim Keller
“To see the law by Christ fulfilled, to hear His pardoning voice
Can change a slave into a child and duty into choice
No strength of nature can suffice to serve the Lord aright
And what she has she misapplies for want of clearer light
Then to abstain from outward sin was more than I could do
Now if I feel its power within, I feel I hate it too
Then all my servile works were done, a righteousness to raise
Now, freely chosen in the Son, I freely choose His ways.”
Sunday Sep 11, 2022
Sunday Sep 11, 2022
Listen along as we continue our journey through the story of scripture.
Notes//Quotes:
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
“They have been ready to believe a whole range of criticisms against him—of being worldly and irresolute (1:17), of moral cowardice in writing instead of coming (1:23), of his lack of inner strength (4:16), of being demoralized and theologically deviant (4:2), of being an imposter (6:8), of being corrupt and exploitative (7:2), of not being a true minister of Christ (10:7), of being weak in speech when present and powerful only by letter, when absent (10:1, 10; 11:6, 21), of being a fool, even mad (11:1, 16, 23), of breaching convention or of craftiness in declining their financial support (11:7; 12:13–16), and of lacking mystical and miraculous credentials of ministry (12:1, 11–12). Throughout this letter Paul is forced to defend his doctrines, his ministry and his character.” - Paul Barnett
“How is it possible to be motivated by the fear of the Lord and the love of Christ? Are not fear and love irreconcilable? It all depends on a proper understanding of fear and love, which, it should be noted, are not opposites. In the Bible ‘fear’ is not cringing terror but holy reverence, and ‘love’ is not romantic feelings but sacrificial care. The two words are consistent and reconcilable. Indeed, the fear of the Lord and awareness of the love of Christ fit perfectly together to provide the true motivation for Christian ministry.” - Paul Barnett
5:16-20
5:21
2 Cor 4:7-18
“While other worldviews lead us to sit in the midst of life’s joys, foreseeing the coming sorrows, Christianity empowers its people to sit in the midst of this world’s sorrows, tasting the coming joy. Suffering can refine us rather than destroy us because God himself walks with us in the fire.” - Tim Keller
2 Cor 8:9
Our giving is a reflexive response to the grace of God in our lives. It doesn’t come out of our altruism or philanthropy – it comes out of the transforming work of Christ in us. God’s grace is the action; our giving is the reaction. We give because He first gave to us. The greatest passage on giving in all Scripture ends not with “Congratulations for your generosity,” but “Thanks be to God for his indescribably gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15). As thunder follows lightning, giving follows grace. - Randy Alcorn
2 Cor 2:5-11
“Forgiveness is not so much a word spoken, an action performed, or a feeling felt as it is an embodied way of life in an ever-deepening friendship with the Triune God and with others. As such, a Christian account of forgiveness ought not simply or even primarily be focused on the absolution of guilt; rather, it ought to be focused on the reconciliation of brokenness, the restoration of communion—with God, with one another, and with the whole creation.” - L. Gregory Jones
Is. 55:8-9
Is 55:6-7
The natural flow of the fallen human heart is toward reciprocity, tit-for-tat payback, equanimity, balancing of the scales. We are far more intractably law-ish than we realize. There is something healthy and glorious buried in that impulse, or course—made in God’s own image, we desire order and fairness rather than chaos. But that impulse, like every part of us, has been diseased by the ruinous fall into sin. Our capacity to apprehend the heart of God has gone into meltdown. We are left with an impoverished view of how he feels toward his people…So God tells us in plain terms how tiny our natural views of his heart are. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways.” - Dane Ortlund
2 Corinthians 13:11-14
Sunday Sep 04, 2022
Sunday Sep 04, 2022
Sunday Aug 28, 2022
Sunday Aug 28, 2022
Listen along as Mike teaches the book of Romans.
Notes/Quotes:
"Time and again in the course of Christian history, it has liberated the minds of men, brought them back
to an understanding of the essential Gospel of Christ, and started spiritual revolutions."
F. F. Bruce
Slide 3
You will find gospel truth in every book of the Bible, including the Old Testament, and you
certainly find the explicit gospel of Jesus Christ in every book of the New Testament. But
the book of Romans, rivaled only perhaps by Hebrews, completely brings the old covenant
history into the new covenant revelation. Romans has an epic sweep and a panoramic
scope. You don’t just get the gospel in Romans, you get gospel deeps.
Jared Wilson
Slide 4
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is
plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his
eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the
world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:18-20
Slide 5
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all,
both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
Romans 3:9-12
Slide 6
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the
Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in
Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus
Romans 3:21-24
Slide 7
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:26
Slide 8
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the
flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not
before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was
counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not
counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him
who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
Romans 4:1-5
Slide 9
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ…
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will
scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare
even to die — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.”
Romans 5:1, 6-8
Slide 10
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not
present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your
members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over
you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 6:12-14
Sunday Aug 21, 2022
Sunday Aug 21, 2022
Listen along as we see the presence and power of Jesus give proliferation of the church.
Notes/Quotes:
Acts 1:1-11
Luke 4:16-21
“In that culture, one’s status in a community was not so much a function of economic realities, but depended on a number of elements, including education, gender, family heritage, religious purity, vocation, economics, and so on. Thus, lack of subsistence might account for one’s designation as “poor,” but so might other disadvantaged conditions, and “poor” would serve as a cipher for those of low status, for those excluded according to normal canons of status honor in the Mediterranean world. Hence, although “poor” is hardly devoid of economic significance, for Luke this wider meaning of diminished status honor is paramount.” Joel Green
“In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.” - Robert Karris
In Luke 5 Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners at the home of Levi.
In Luke 7 Jesus is anointed in the home of Simon the Pharisee during a meal.
In Luke 9 Jesus feeds the five thousand.
In Luke 10 Jesus eats in the home of Martha and Mary.
In Luke 11 Jesus condemns the Pharisees and teachers of the law at a meal.
In Luke 14 Jesus is at a meal when he urges people to invite the poor to their meals rather than their friends.
In Luke 19 Jesus invites himself to dinner with Zacchaeus.
In Luke 22 we have the account of the Last Supper.
In Luke 24 the risen Christ has a meal with the two disciples in Emmaus, and then later eats fish with the disciples in Jerusalem.
“There are three ways the New Testament completes the sentence, ‘The Son of Man came...’ ‘The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’ (Mark 10:45); ‘The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’ (Luke 19:10); ‘The Son of Man has come eating and drinking . . . ‘ (Luke 7:34). The first two are statements of purpose. Why did Jesus come? He came to serve, to give his life as a ransom, to seek and save the lost. The third is a statement of method. How did Jesus come? He came eating and drinking.” - Tim Chester
Luke 7:33-35
Acts 2:42-47
These four go together. You can't separate them, or leave one out, without damage to the whole thing. Where no attention is given to teaching, and to constant, lifelong Christian learning, people quickly refer to the worldview or mindset of the surrounding culture, and end up with their minds shaped by whichever social pressures are most persuasive, with Jesus somewhere around as a pale influence or memory. Where people ignore the common life of the Christian family (the technical term often used is "fellowship", which is more than friendship but not less), they become isolated, and often find it difficult to sustain a living faith. Where people no longer share regularly in 'the breaking of bread' (the early Christian term for the simple meal that took them back to the Upper Room 'in remembrance of Jesus'), they are failing to raise the flag which says 'Jesus' death and resurrection are the centre of everything. And whenever people do all these things but neglect prayer, they are quite simply forgetting that Christians are supposed to be heaven-and earth people. Prayer makes no sense whatever - unless heaven and earth are designed to be joined together, and we can share in that already. - NT Wright
"We formerly rejoiced in uncleanness of life, but now love only chastity; before we used the magic arts, but now dedicate ourselves to the true and unbegotten God; before we loved money and possessions more than anything, but now we share what we have and to everyone who is in need; before we hated one another and killed one another and would not eat with those of another race, but now since the manifestation of Christ, we have come to a common life and pray for our enemies and try to win over those who hate us without just cause.” Justin Martyr to Antonius Pius
Atheism [i.e., Christian faith] has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them - Emperor Julian
Acts 28:30-31
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Listen along as we continue our series through the story of Scripture.
Notes/Quotes:
John 20:30-31 -
(21:25)
Meme 1/2
In a world of darkness - Jesus is Light
In a world of death - Jesus is Life
In a world of despair - Jesus is Love
John 1:1-5
The term “the Word” (Gk. Logos) conveys the notion of divine self-expression or speech and has a rich OT background. God’s Word is effective: God speaks, and things come into being (Gen. 1:3, 9; Ps. 33:6; 107:20; Isa. 55:10–11). John also shows how this concept of “the Word” is superior to a Greek philosophical concept of “Word” (logos) as an impersonal principle of Reason that gave order to the universe. “And the Word was with God” indicates interpersonal relationship “with” God, but then and the Word was God affirms that this Word was also the same God who created the universe “in the beginning.” Here are the building blocks that go into the doctrine of the Trinity: the one true God consists of more than one person, they relate to each other, and they have always existed. - ESV Study Bible
John 1:14
In Hebrew the term “dabar” means both "word" and "deed." Thus to say something is to do something. "I love you." "I hate you." "I forgive you." "I am afraid of you." Who knows what such words do, but whatever it is, it can never be undone. Something that lay hidden in the heart is irrevocably released through speech into time, is given substance and tossed like a stone into the pool of history, where the concentric rings lap out endlessly. "In the beginning was the Word," says John, meaning perhaps that before the beginning there was something like Silence: not the absence of sound, because there was no sound yet to be absent, but the absence of absence: nothing nothinged: Then the Word. The Deed. The Beginning. The beginning in time of time. "The Word was with God, and the Word was God," says John. By uttering himself, God makes God heard and makes God hearers. God never seems to weary of trying to get across to us. Word after word God tries in search of the right word. When the creation itself doesn't seem to say it right—sun, moon, stars, all of it—God tries flesh and blood. Frederick Buechner
The Johannine model of salvation is, in the light of the Exodus, an act of liberation from the dominion of slavery to the freedom of children within the household/Temple of God, In this model there is liberation from sin, where sin is perceived as a power which enslaves humanity to “the ruler of this world,” just as Israel was once held captive within the house of slavery. But with the incarnation of Jesus, the true king has come, offering life and freedom. Mary Coloe
John 10:10
“Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden…When He talks of their losing their selves, He means only abandoning the clamor of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I am afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever.” C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
(Bible Project image)
John 16:7-11
John 20:21
Following Jesus is not a skill we acquire. Following Jesus is not a strategy we work out. It is obedience – ‘my Lord.’ It is worship – ‘my God.’ No religious skills that you and I acquire will ever produce resurrection. No spiritual strategies that we work on will ever produce resurrection. Following Jesus doesn’t get us where we want to go; it gets us where Jesus wants us to go.
- Eugene Peterson
Saturday Aug 06, 2022
Saturday Aug 06, 2022
Mark 4:35-41
Mark 1:1
The providence which has ordered the whole of our life…has ordained the most perfect consummation for human life by giving to it Caesar Augustus, by sending in him, as it were, a savior for us and those who come after us, to make war to cease, to create order everywhere…the birthday of the god [Augustus] was the beginning of the gospel for the world that came by him. - Priene Calendar Inscription, 9BC
"There was a human being in the first century who was called 'Divine,' 'Son of God,' 'God,' and 'God from God,' whose titles were 'Lord,' 'Redeemer,' 'Liberator,' and 'Saviour of the World.'" Most Christians probably think that those titles were originally created and uniquely applied to Christ. But before Jesus ever existed, all those terms belonged to Caesar Augustus. They were taking the identity of the Roman emperor and giving it to a Jewish peasant. Either that was a peculiar joke and a very low lampoon, or it was what the Romans called majistas and we call high treason.” - John Dominic Crossan
“The introduction of Jesus is no less momentous than the creation of the world, for in Jesus a new creation is at hand” - James Edwards
15:39
“The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice. (They had heard it before, of course–it was the same voice that made them, in the very beginning). They listened to Jesus and they did what he said.” Sally Lloyd Jones
“Jesus does not reproach the disciples for their lack of knowledge, however, but for their fear, the Greek word for which means “losing heart” or “cowardice.” The real threat to faith comes not from lack of knowledge but from doubt and fear.” - James Edwards
“Then Jesus turned to his wind-torn friends. “Why were you scared?” he asked. “Did you forget who I am? Did you believe your fears, instead of me?” Jesus’ friends were quiet. As quiet as the wind and the waves. And into their hearts came a different kind of storm. “What kind of man is this?” they asked themselves anxiously. “Even the winds and the waves obey him!” they said, because they didn’t understand. They didn’t realize yet that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus’ friends had been so afraid, they had only seen the big waves. They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, then they had nothing to be afraid of. No matter how small their boat–or how big their storm." - Sally Lloyd Jones
“If the sight of Jesus bowing his head into that ultimate storm is burned into the core of your being, you will never say, “God, don’t you care?” If you know that he did not abandon you in that ultimate storm, what makes you think he would abandon you in the much smaller storms you’re experiencing right now? And, someday, of course, he will return and still all storms for eternity.” Tim Keller
Only two groups seem to give anywhere near the expected response—the desperate and the demoniacs. The latter at least show signs of knowing who Jesus is; but they get no further because recognition leads to resistance, not faith, till they are delivered. The desperate alone are seen to be faithful. They have nowhere else to go, and no future to hope for without a cure. In the main they cast themselves on Jesus and find all that they need, and more. - Donald English
Mark 5:19-20